Read the World
Braille displays, including multiline, with instruction.
Your gift provides: a display and the training to read the news, a lease, a note from a friend.
Helen Keller Services
Access in Hand
Put independence in someone’s hands. Accessibility creates opportunity on the pathway to independence.
Why it matters
In today’s world, digital access is essential
Reading emailPaying billsTexting familyApplying for jobsNavigating a new city
For people with vision loss or combined hearing and vision loss, these everyday tasks require specialized skills and tools. Without them, independence shrinks and isolation grows.
Our technology training changes that equation. A DeafBlind adult learns to use a refreshable braille display and suddenly can communicate independently with coworkers. A teenager masters screen reading software and applies to college on their own. A professional who recently lost vision returns to work because they’ve learned the accessibility features built into the tools they already use.
What your gift provides
Technology is only powerful when people know how to use it
The tool
A braille display, a laptop, a cane, a phone: the device that fits the person and the goal.
The training
Expert instruction to master the device, then to use it at work, at school and at home.
The future
Skills that last, and the independence that follows them home.
Every gift turns technology from a barrier into a bridge to independence.
Already working
A laptop that opens a career
Helen Keller Services for the Blind trains professionals who are blind or have low vision in fully remote programs. Every participant receives a loaner computer, set up with screen reading and testing tools and shipped before the first class, so learning can start anywhere.
Graduates now work as project managers, administrative analysts and assistive technology instructors. A multi-year gift from one donor now helps fund the laptops.
“Helen Keller Services for the Blind changed my life.”
Anthony, TEAM program graduate, now an account manager at a digital accessibility company
Where your gift can go
Six ways to put access in someone’s hands
Choose the kind of access that means the most to you. Gifts to Helen Keller Services as a whole are always welcome and go where the need is greatest.
Learn from Anywhere
Loaner laptops that bring training to any home.
Your gift provides: a computer set up with screen reading tools, shipped before the first class.
Every Conversation
Interpreting and listening tools for DeafBlind individuals.
Your gift provides: the interpreters and Support Service Providers who carry every word.
Go Your Own Way
Canes and navigation tools, with expert mobility training.
Your gift provides: the equipment and the instruction for safe, independent travel.
Tools for Tomorrow
Phones, smart glasses and AI tools for work and life.
Your gift provides: today’s devices, and instructors who keep pace as the tools change.
Everyday Independence
Magnifiers, labelers and simple tools for home.
Your gift provides: the small tools that make a kitchen, a mailbox and a medicine cabinet usable again.
Every Conversation
For someone who is DeafBlind, an interpreter’s hands carry every word
At Helen Keller National Center, ASL and tactile interpreters and Support Service Providers make communication possible in training, on the job and in everyday life.
A gift to Every Conversation keeps that access in place, so no one misses a word.
Who we are
Pathways to independence at every stage of life
For over a century, Helen Keller Services has empowered individuals who are blind, DeafBlind, or have low vision to achieve their full potential. Through our two divisions we provide comprehensive support, and we transform barriers into opportunities, creating pathways to independence at every stage of life.
Helen Keller National Center for DeafBlind Youths and Adults
The only comprehensive vocational and rehabilitation program in the United States exclusively serving DeafBlind youths and adults, on our Sands Point campus and through 11 regional offices across the country.
Helen Keller Services for the Blind
Comprehensive programs across the New York metropolitan area, from early childhood through senior years, including Assistive Technology Centers in Brooklyn, Hempstead and Islandia.
Technology has transformed what’s possible for people with vision loss and combined hearing and vision loss. Training in both divisions is always individualized, matching technology solutions to each person’s communication preferences, career goals and daily needs.
Ways to give
Choose how you put access in hand
Equip a Learner
$[____]
One participant’s tool and the training to use it.
Equip a Class
$[____]
A full class of learners in one program.
Sponsor a Program
$[____]
One giving area for a year, with recognition.
Leave a Legacy
Named or endowed
A program carrying your name, or a fund that gives every year.
Every gift covers the tool, the training and the program around them. Gifts of any size are welcome, and gifts to Helen Keller Services as a whole go where the need is greatest.
For companies
Partner with the people who use the technology
Helen Keller Services already works with major technology companies, including Apple, so products are tested by the people they are meant to serve. A company can sponsor a giving area, contribute equipment and software to our training programs, or test and co-develop accessible tools with our specialists and participants.
Our promise to you
You’ll meet the people, read their stories and see the results
The people
Meet the participants your gift equips.
The stories
Their journeys, in their own words.
The results
A yearly report on what your gift made possible.
An open door
See training in person, at our centers and on our campus.
Access in Hand
Put access in someone’s hands
Whether you equip one learner or sponsor a whole program, you put access, and with it independence, into someone’s hands.